This blog is brought to you by Miss Alana and her year 2/3 bananas.
Week 7 saw us head to Port Noarlunga Beach for Aquatics! Fortunately, the sun was shining for us and the water was sparkly and inviting, if a little bit on the chilly side.
We are so lucky to have our school close to one of the most beautiful beaches in the south. It takes us twenty minutes to walk down, get changed into our wetsuits and hop in the water.
Throughout the five days learning is centered around water safety and swimming. Each session sees the students learn new skills through instructor discussion, demonstrations and activities in and out of the water. The students are also exposed to a new piece of equipment each day, including body boards, kick boards, rescue equipment, PFDs, masks and snorkels. This new knowledge sparks discussion around water safety, sun protection and overall health and wellbeing. Throughout the week students wrote recounts in a Journal to reflect on their learning at the beach.
Here is what some students had to say:
“My favourite bit was when we were bodyboarding and when I caught a really big wave. I also liked learning about the PFDs. I liked when we learnt the different parts of the boat”. (Jay, Year 2)
“My favourite part was when we got to swim and float, we got to play games on the beach. I also liked it when we did doggy paddling and also we had to swim around one of the instructors”. (Lilly Year 2)
“I loved making huge sand castles on the beach and floating in the ocean. The instructors showed us a blue bottle octopus in a jar to teach us about safety”. (Jackson, Year 2)
“I enjoyed snorkeling, I saw some fish, crabs and lots of seaweed. I also liked paddling on the boards. On the second day I enjoyed jumping in the water and through the waves. I loved catching some waves on the body board.” (Sienna, Year 3)
“I liked when we learnt about the boat and the different parts. I liked how we floated in the water and we played a game called Chicken, Star, Soldier”. (Marley, Year 2)
“My favourite part was boogie boarding because we were catching waves and I got dumped a few times. I enjoyed Wednesday because we went on the surfboards. I wish we were still there doing it.” (Bodhi, Year 3)
